Accrington, a relatively quiet town in Lancashire, was plunged into shock and sorrow on Thursday, 25th August 1904, when the lifeless body of 78-year-old Susan Westwell was discovered in her humble abode at number 24 Hyndburn Road. This brutal act of violence against a beloved member of the community left everyone reeling with unanswered questions…
Category: Blog
Exploring the old Tottington Print Works
In this video, we take a walk around the old print works that are located in Tottington. The ruins here are those of Tottington Print Works, known locally as ‘Tottington Mill’. If you stop about halfway down the cobbled path and look back towards Tower Farm, it is thought to be the place LS Lowry…
Ilkley Moor Alien – Location of THAT infamous photo!
In this video, we travelled over to Ilkley and Ilkley Moor to be precise, to uncover the location of WHERE a photograph of what many believe is to be that of an ‘alien’ creature was taken by ‘Philip Spencer’ on the 1st December, 1987. Was the story of Philip Spencer a hoax? What did he…
He Died Playing The Game He Loved | Haslingden Hotspurs
In this video, we tell the story of 24-year old, James Hubert Taylor, a cashier within Longshoot Mill of the Grane Manufacturing Company in Haslingden, and whose passion was football. He had often played for Haslingden Football Club but would on this one occasion, offer to play for the junior side, Haslingden Hotspurs, and it…
Nine Died in This Tragedy! Accrington School Fire of 1867
During one of the worst periods of uncertainty in the suburbs of Accrington, 24-year old school mistress, Letitia Burscough, had aquired the upper ground floor of a building owned by 50-year old, James Duckworth, which was built underneath one of the many arches of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Viaduct which still, to this day,…
The Birley Street Monster (1948)
Emily Holland, 1876; Alice Barnes, 1892 and Helen Chester, 1935. Just three children whose lives were cruelly taken from them at young ages, and the one thing they all had in common is the industrial town of Blackburn, in the north west of England. Emily was aged seven years old. Alice, slightly older and aged…
The Suspicious Poisoning of Samuel Hutton (1871)
The death of a child is always one of sorrow and grief and for some people, especially the parents of the child, it is often said that they have felt great pain and regret, with some placing blame onto themselves because they feel they hadn’t done enough to prevent the death. Victorian times saw a…